Pure Stock - Small Blocks through the years

As another, who was there in the day, I absolutely have to agree with Dave. The Pure Stock Drag racing results don't necessarily represent what your showroom stockers would run either. These cars are, in fact, tuned to T. We all know our cars, most of us built them. Most of us have more passes on the Dragstrip than those writers back in the day. But the vast majority of the PSMCDR cars are stock, and would pass an inspection by an "expert."
Back in the day, there were "ringers" used to base the "Road Tests" on. The most famous of those being the Car & Driver GTO that turned out to be a Royal Pontiac 421:laugh: . Another that comes to mind was the Fairlane and Cyclone GT's and GTA's tested by the same magazine in a head to head comparision test. Those turned out to be 396" FE's with low riser (ne: Cobra Jet) heads. One blew up and left the test area without any examination allowed. OH, they arrived in Holman-Moody trailerso No: . The magazine articles, that reported actual production vehicles, had very little readership because we all wanted to see our own favorites be the fastest. Of course none of us could duplicate the times in the magazines. Eventually the BS became the "Truth" as it always does, and the truth, the real truth, becomes Heresey. Pretty much as you wrote it. If you feel that a certain combination, be it the Chevy, or the Boss 351 has been slighted, build one and show us. We'll be interested in seeing your work.

 

Brian, I think the points are bad in the computer.:idea2:

 

you made the new list :beer

 

Frank, hurry up and polish off that last victory beer......... I got more data

 

from 1998 to present:



added 3 cars, and removed a car that was sold and raced again........

 

Cool. 15 stick shifts and 22 girlie boy cars. :bglasses:

 

Looks like I am going to have to start wrenching on mine a little harder. 8 small blocks are takin' my 2 tons of love to the wood shed!!:moonu:

 

:gp:

 

Donny,
Neat study, we thank you for the time. I will have to use the "only three speed, column shift" excuse for only being #22. :idea2: Or have I worn that one out? Have to think up another excuse. How about it's the oldest car and has white walls?p
I, like Dave, have noticed the number of stick cars in the list. Guess the little blocks like the manual trannys best.
I'd be a little cautious about directly comparing years, For all our B....ing about track conditions Friday, this year, Sat wound up really good. But I do think the air was better in '06. Hard to compare.
One thing is obvious from this, thanks Rusty, and that's that a well tuned and driven small block can be very competitive.
It's also obvious that Granatelli's efforts at Studebaker (with Ted's tuning/driving) and Ford's efforts to combat the "Fuelies" were pretty successful for their time. I lived through the period, and am still learning things from this. Like the 350 pontiac HO's, I mean, who knew?:shock:

 

I'm in the same boat as you, Rusty.
I'm just getting the shop ready over here in Warren for some serious tuning to get my 2 tons of Cobra Jet love into the 13's.

 

I like the Top 20 list, where my W-31 made it #2 and #10 ........

 

CHEATER !!

 

need to go a top 14 for 2005, if a 400 olds is a small block. or top 12 if it aint. gotta have a cleveland on ONE of these lists!

 

Need to talk to Benoit. I think he got his 351 into the 12's but it was at a FAST race.:spank:

Jim

 

??????????

Who's saying a 400 Olds is a small block? Neither the big bore short stroke E block (65-67) or the small bore, big stroke G block (68-69) were small blocks. Both were big blocks.

????????

 

easy there dave, easy!! i wasnt sure how a 400 olds was "classified"?? thats why i kinda left it open ended, didnt want to fully insert foot into mouth.

 

I just cut it off at 360 cubes... I figured that was fair.

if I cut it at 350, I move up 2 spots :bla:

if I cut it at 349, 8th place

throw out the blown cars and 5th place :sleep:

so, like I said, I just cut it off at 360 cid :beers2:

 

No problem, Jim, I know Chevy's small 400 is a big small block, but both Olds 400's are big blocks with smaller bores. Think Pontiac's are all one size.

Smothers' Brothers tried to pass off a big block as a small block at the IHRA Nationals one year, got caught, and thrown out.

 

All Pontiacs are the same size, except some are bigger than others! Blocks all carry the same deck heights, except the infamous 301's. Bores are different so the castings actually vary substantially from the first 287's in 55 to things like the SD's. Makes it hard to tell (for a layman) what a motor is. Becomes obvious when you pull the pan. If it has 4 bolt mains, it won't be a 326.
Now, let's discuss Ford Clevelands, Windsors and M's ! :Brow: